Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Allan and Damian Hinds

Monday 17th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

1. What recent estimate his Department has made of the number of children in the care system.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Damian Hinds)]

At 31 March this year, there were just over 75,000 looked- after children in England, 4% up on the previous year following a small fall in the number entering care, but also a decrease in the number leaving.

[Lucy Allan]

Does the Secretary of State agree that if funding for family support and early intervention was ring-fenced, that would reduce the number of children subject to expensive statutory intervention and care proceedings?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Allan and Damian Hinds

Monday 12th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

I think it was a good thing that we were able to find hundreds of millions of pounds— £400 million—for additional capital spending in-year, on top of the £1.4 billion in capital already allocated.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

T6. Statutory child protection interventions are continuing to rise at record levels. What can the Minister do to ensure that such interventions are used only for high-risk cases, and not as an alternative to family support?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Allan and Damian Hinds

Monday 10th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

No, willing it so would not make it so, but that is not what we are doing, and by the way, that is not what my right hon. Friend the Minister said in Committee either. I am pleased to be able to report that many thousands of businesses are already involved in this process through the design of the qualification and through putting forward placements in the first pilots of these industrial placements. That number will grow significantly this year.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

T-levels are a fantastic opportunity for preparation for the world of work. What further steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that businesses are onside and supportive, because there are some indications that some businesses are not behind this initiative?

[Damian Hinds]

My hon. Friend is right to suggest that businesses must be at the heart of this, and they are. The design of the qualifications is being done by business, and at every stage we are making sure that the leading players in every sector are involved in the design and the delivery.

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Hinds]

Our plan on mental health, as put forward in the Green Paper, contains three important elements: there is the designated senior lead in each school; there are the support teams in or around schools; and there is piloting the shorter wait time for children and young people’s mental health services. More broadly, the Government are investing £1.4 billion to improve children and young people’s mental health services. Quite rightly, there is a much wider appreciation of these issues now than there ever has been, and schools have an important part to play in this alongside society as a whole.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

Following his meeting last week with the Family Rights Group to discuss the care crisis review, will the Children’s Minister now consider developing a long-term strategy for reducing the number of children being taken into care?

Schools That Work For Everyone

Debate between Lucy Allan and Damian Hinds

Monday 14th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

There is no extra revenue funding for grammar schools. Let me be totally clear about this, lest there be any doubts. The revenue funding formula works in the same way for the different types of school. In fact, grammar schools will on average receive slightly less money per pupil. I do understand some of the cost pressures that schools have been under, and I am committed to redoubling efforts to work with them to bear down on some of those costs.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

I welcome the measures that the Secretary of State has announced to enable children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds to gain access to selective education, but can he ensure that children on free school meals and looked-after children benefit from those measures?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Allan and Damian Hinds

Monday 19th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

T4. I know the Minister shares my concern about the horrific sexual exploitation of young girls in Telford. Is he aware of any national inquiry that will specifically investigate all aspects of current and historical cases of child exploitation in Telford?

[Damian Hinds]

I share my hon. Friend’s concerns; it is a terrible case, and tragically not the first of its type. I will write to ask the chair of the new national child safeguarding review panel to look at the places where these appalling crimes have happened, such as Rotherham, Oxfordshire and, indeed, Telford, and to report on whether lessons have been learned and practices improved right across the system.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lucy Allan and Damian Hinds

Tuesday 19th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

That is not true. The enhancement of manufacturing is absolutely at the heart of this Government’s approach, but we should not forget that services are also a very large part—in fact a bigger part—of the economy. The overall performance of the British economy is such that we had the highest growth rate in the G7 countries in 2014 and the joint highest in 2015. We have rising real wages and more people in jobs than ever before.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

10. What assessment he has made of recent trends in the level of employment.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Damian Hinds)]

Employment stands at 31.3 million, which means, as I have just said, that more people are in work than ever before. In the past year, growth has been driven by full-time employees in high and medium-skilled jobs, showing that we are now moving to the next phase of our recovery, with high-quality employment, and a boost in productivity and living standards nationwide.

[Lucy Allan]

I thank the Minister for his reply. In my constituency, youth unemployment has halved in the past year and it is now lower than for the whole of the west midlands and the country. Does he agree that this excellent news for Telford shows that the economic plan is working?

[Damian Hinds]

I am delighted with that news from my hon. Friend’s constituency, and I do indeed agree with her. Across the west midlands, youth unemployment has fallen by almost a quarter on the year, with the rate now returning to pre-recession levels. The west midlands saw the fastest growth in full-time average earnings among all the English regions, and there are some 140,000 more people in work since 2010.